Will Cain Country - Clay Travis & Mark Teixeira On The Charlie Kirk Assassination

Episode Date: September 12, 2025

On this edition of 'Will Cain Country,' Will continues to share his reaction to the shocking assassination of conservative leader Charlie Kirk. Will lays out why Kirk’s murder is more than a political headline, it’s a cultural turning point that exposes the rising tide of political violence in America, the media’s selective outrage, and what it says about our ability to live together in one country. Then, Will is joined by Co-host of ‘The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show’ and Founder of OutKick, Clay Travis to analyze how the Left and the press are framing the assassination, the chilling precedent it sets for free speech, and what it means for parents, students, and the future of open debate.  Former Major League Baseball All-Star & World Series Champion and Candidate for Congress in TX-21, Mark Teixeira also sits down with Will to bring his perspective as an athlete, a parent, and a citizen. The two dive into why he's running for office in Texas and tragic death of Charlie Kirk.  Subscribe to 'Will Cain Country' on YouTube here: ⁠⁠Watch Will Cain Country!⁠⁠ Follow 'Will Cain Country' on X (@willcainshow), Instagram (@willcainshow), TikTok (@willcainshow), and Facebook (@willcainnews) Follow Will on X: ⁠⁠@WillCain [00:00] Will Cain opens the show: Arrest in Charlie Kirk’s assassination and reflections on America’s rising political violence. [05:30] Will on social media toxicity spilling into real life — educators, neighbors, even friends celebrating Kirk’s death. [08:37] Clay Travis joins: reacting to Kirk’s murder, the Left’s broken rhetoric, and what it reveals about American culture. [14:30] Clay and Will discuss raising sons, schools honoring Kirk, and the hunger for meaning among young men. [23:20] Will warns that violence could trigger retaliation, risking civil conflict; Clay explains the danger of calling Trump “Hitler.” [30:30] Clay and Will reflect on Kirk’s connection with students and his unique impact on young men. [33:52] Mark Teixeira interview: why the Yankees/Rangers legend is running for Congress, motivated by faith, family, and service. [41:40] Teixeira on Kirk’s assassination as an act of evil, and the need for faith in a broken political culture. [45:45] Why Teixeira made Texas home, and how baseball prepared him for public life. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

One, an arrest in the murder of Charlie Kirk. Two, Clay Travis, my friend, the host of the Clay Travis and Buck Sexton show, joins us on what and where is next for America. Three, New York Yankees and Texas Ranger legend Mark Tashara, who's now ready. to run for United States Congress. It is Will Kane Country, normally streaming live every Monday through Thursday

at 12 o'clock Eastern Time. At the Wilcane Country YouTube channel, the Fox News Facebook page, and always available at Spotify or on Apple. Friday, Canaan Sports. Spotify. Apple, YouTube. This is the place where we normally step away from the political landscape and talk about college football, talk about the NFL, talk about all of our shared love, sports. But it is hard

to do today. In fact, it might be impossible to do today. We will be joined by two of my favorites, one of whom is an absolute sports legend. No, I'm not talking about Clay Travis. I'm talking about Mark Tashara, who's now going to run for Congress. He tells us why, with all that he's made in his career and all that he's already accomplished, why he wants to step into a realm, quite honestly, a realm that just produced the assassination of one of our friends in Charlie Kirk. In fact, that's where we will start today with story number one. 22-year-old Tyler Robinson has been arrested, according to the

the FBI and local law enforcement on suspicion of murder. He is the alleged shooter, the assassin of Charlie Kirk. At the time, I'm speaking to you very little at this point is known that I know about Tyler Robinson. Reports are that his father detained Robinson after a pastor implored the family to turn himself in after he confessed to his father that he was the man who killed Charlie Kirk. we don't know that much about robinson it appears that the ammunition the shell casings that he used that day at utah valley university were inscribed with anti-fascist messages almost coded in reddit discord speak almost necessary to be translated his motivations will be uncovered beyond where common sense leads us

we will find out the specific mindsets the inspiration the ever elusive why someone would do something so horrific i wake up today and i will just wonder about the horrific motivations of tyler robinson i wonder about the horrific motivations of the people standing next to me no i'm not talking about two a days or tinfoil pat i'm not talking about you i'm talking about the line at starbucks at the grocery store i'm talking about of course on social media. I'm talking about it in the classroom of my children. It's one thing when I see random anonymous posters on the internet celebrating the death of Charlie Kirk. It's another thing when those start to hit home. And I want to ignore it and I want to dismiss it as a lunatic

fringe or maybe even just people being particularly ugly and sharing the worst of themselves on social media while walking in the world wearing the mask of a good person. But when you start to recognize the names, you start to really worry. and wonder about the world. Over the last couple of days, it's gone from an honest internet posters to people that have been in charge at times of either my kids' sports careers or their education.

I've seen these posts. And I'm sure you have as well. I'm sure you have in your world. I don't know. Maybe the guy that cuts your hair. Maybe your neighbor. Maybe a quote-unquote friend and maybe, in the worst-case scenarios,

a family member. and I don't know how to make sense of this world. You see, as you'll hear me talk about with my friend who's had a very similar career path and a very similar bearing as me, law school educated sports debate, Clay Travis, as you'll hear me talk about with Clay Travis, I have never tried to curate a world where I am surrounded by people who nod. I've never tried to just be surrounded by agreement. I've never required.

I might prefer, especially when it comes to education, to know that someone shares my values. But I haven't required it of my community. But I do require a basic level of human decency. I do not accept that you can celebrate murder. We do not simply have a difference of politics and we do not simply disagree. If you cannot condemn murder,

we don't have a place in each other's world. This is a test of basic human decency, and you have failed. I know that you have failed while believing you command the moral high ground, which makes it to me all the more perverted. You have to be able to look in the mirror and see what is staring back at you. Don't you dare come back with some distorted words that you don't understand,

and you've never listened to in full context, or don't want to hear the truth about of Charlie Kirk. Charlie Kirk was not a racist. Charlie Kirk was not even a transphope. Charlie Kirk was not someone with malevolent motivations, but he didn't shy away. from telling you the truth. And if that truth offended you, and if that truth made you hateful, that's a you problem. That's you. And that's the mirror. So today, as you all rip off your masks, and today, as you turn around from the mirror and show the rest of the world who you really are on the inside, we can see.

the valley of morality that you stand in not the mountain if you cannot condemn murder we cannot share a community all right i'm going to get into this and more of the details and more of the conversation today i'm excited to have two guys that i really like uh mark tishara new york yankees legend that hurts me a little bit because i like to say a texas ranger legend running for congress but first, the host of the Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show and the founder of Outkick.com. Clay Travis in story number two. Hold on. Let's take a quick break, but we continue this conversation with the host of the Clay Travis and Buck Sexton show. Clay Travis, when we come back on Will Kane Country.

This is Jimmy Falla, inviting you to join me for Fox Across America, where we'll discuss every single one of the Democrats' dumb ideas. Just kidding. It's only a three-hour show. Listen live at noon Eastern or get the podcast. podcast at fox acrossamerica.com. I'm Janice Dean. Join me every Sunday as I focus on stories of hope and people who are truly rays of sunshine in their community and across the world. Listen and follow now at Fox Newspodcast.com. Hey, I'm Trey Gowdy host of the Trey Gowdy podcast. I hope you will join me every Tuesday and Thursday as we navigate life together and hopefully find ourselves a little bit better on the other

side. Listen and follow now at Fox News. Newspodcast.com. Clay Travis joins us now here on Will Kane Country, my friend. What's up, Clay? It is Friday morning, and there has been an arrest made in the assassination of Charlie Kirk. Normally on a day like this, Clay, I would be excited to get together with you and talk about college football, maybe even the NFL. I just can't. I can't get my mind there right now.

In my mind, and I'm sure you're the same, my mind is. at some point, Clay, drifts away, and I'm not telling you what's right or wrong, I'm just telling you what's happening with me internally. It drifts even away from Charlie. And I just start thinking about what this has revealed about America. Man, I literally woke up this morning. And honestly, before I went to bed last night, that it began to bubble up. And this thing about this ugliness on social media has bled over into my real life. And I'm having real questions about how we move forward as one country in America? I think you are evoking a thought that is very common for many different Americans,

including me. It's one thing to have to see the Charlie Kirk assassination, as we all did on video. You're a dad, I'm a dad. It's another thing to think about those little kids, truly little kids, and the fact that they're not going to grow up with their dad, that is crippling, devastating. But the fact that there isn't universal condemnation of the assassin. And in fact, on the flip side of that,

that there would be many people exulting over the assassin, including I'm sure you've seen the video, of some guy immediately standing up and cheering who was at the free speech event in real time, when he saw Charlie Kirk get hit and go back. I don't know how we come back from a level of toxicity where when someone gets shot and killed, there is glee on huge percentages of the left. And this didn't start with Charlie Kirk.

I was kind of, and I bet you were too, stunned by the degree to which a lot of people when the United Healthcare CEO was executed in cold blood on the streets of Manhattan, by the number of people who wanted to make that guy a superstar. And I think what we've seen is there, and I'm not saying it doesn't exist on the right too, because I'm sure that it does. But there are a lot of people whose brains have been broken and they've lost the ability to see common humanity

because when you see a dad get executed on live television for his political beliefs, I don't understand, frankly, how your immediate thought isn't one of empathy, compassion and a sick feeling in your stomach. What we saw is there's a huge percentage of Americans and they have every job and they are involved in almost every facet of our country that exalted and celebrated that death. And I don't know how you cleanse that toxicity. And Clay, I don't require, I don't know, you know, the exact life you live there outside of

Nashville. And I've even questioned myself at times because, of course, my former co-hosts would tell me you've got a homeschool will you've got to find a classical christian education i haven't done those things um but i have never required that my children or my community completely reflect my own beliefs you and i both come from a world first sports and then in politics where we have enjoyed the back and forth much like charlie you and i have enjoyed the exchange of ideas the debate and and i haven't required that in my personal life clay i haven't required that my friends all share my beliefs or my children's school or any aspect of my life, but I do require a basic level of human decency. I do require that you are not someone who celebrates murder.

That doesn't seem like a very high standard. And I'm with you. I'll tell you in my own life, um, you've got teenage boys, I think, or they're maybe a little bit older than teenage, but in the same vicinity as my own kid's ages, my 17 and 14 year old were crushed. They, They watched the Charlie Kirk videos. They like the debate. They're young men seeking answers to questions. And much like in sports, you know, we have this internal conflict. Who's the better man?

Who's the better team? And that draws, I think, uniquely male eyeballs because we like to have competition decide. We like the meritocracy to win. That's what draws us to sports. And I think Charlie Kirk, who is a big sports fan himself, uniquely got that you need to have a conflict of ideas to get to a better resolution. That's actually the foundation of the American Democratic Republic is this idea that we argue about things. And then the better

idea wins. That's how the foundation of our country works at all. And the fact that Charlie Kirk was killed while doing that, I think is particularly apropos in a negative way of where we are as a country. And I can't stop thinking about it, Will. And I imagine sometimes, I know many people feel incredibly incredibly touched emotionally by the story for a variety of different reasons. You and I also can layer on. We're in public all the time.

If the standard now is if you don't like somebody's opinion, you can shoot them with a rifle from 200 yards and a lot of people are going to celebrate, then you, me, tons of other people out there who share opinions that are similar to ours, We're in the line of fire. And I don't think that's healthy for the country. And I think, sadly, Charlie Kirk, because of the reaction we're seeing, is not going to be the only one.

And I spent a lot of time thinking about this last night. I couldn't go to sleep. Ultimately, this guy is going to see himself as a hero, this 22-year-old assassin. Yes. And that's his own beluded. There will be people to tell him he's a hero. We can say, okay, well, maybe that's not representative, but will. Tens of millions of Americans are going to consider him a hero too.

and all that does is create the incentive for others to act as he did. Oh, that's horrifically scary. I don't walk around at all thinking about it. I still have the mind of a 25-year-old thinking I'm literally bulletproof and I'm impervious and, oh, the probabilities. And I'm not the top of anyone's hit list and all those things. But the incentive that you just laid out, that should terrify all of us. By the way, our boys are the exact same age, 17 and 14, which I'm visiting the true UT tomorrow, Clay. We're doing the college shopping tour, as I'm sure you are as well.

I'll be at the original UT tomorrow for the Georgia game. And by the way, when you were saying, I wanted to mention this, my son's school, because I know a lot of people think about this all the time, probably 90% of the kids yesterday on Thursday showed up in a shirt and tie in honor of Charlie Kirk. It's an all-boy school here in the Nashville area. But I saw that and I think it spoke to how he spoke to them. But it also made me think, boy, we made the right decision to have my kids in the school that we did, that that student body would respond so much better than the social media community did.

And we're talking about kids who took it up on themselves. This wasn't some sort of school. organized thing. They just got on social media and said, hey, we're going to show respect for Charlie Kirk by dressing as they have to dress and don't like to dress, right? They don't like wearing ties. They don't like wearing jackets. They have to do it for big school events. They did it to pay tribute to Charlie. That's awesome. We should talk offline about where our boys are thinking about going to school next year. Okay. This is something else. On the reaction to Charlie Kirk, So I know you, Clay, and I'm going to put this in varying degrees of scale, I feel like.

Throughout my career, mostly in the beginning at ESPN, and now, again, that I have my own show on Fox, I have been at times a part of the distortion of my message. So, reduced to racist, reduced to transphobe, reduced to hater, reduced to, evil. That's what there's a certain segment of society that could come away through, I don't know, distortion and clips believing about me. And you, I would suggest, have that same experience at a greater level than me. You have been painted as a racist. You have been painted as every ist there is, every phob that exists. I know you, and I know that you're not those things. And what you do is very similar to what I do is which you can just make bold arguments.

that are, in your estimation, and I think backed up by objective fact, true. And sometimes those truths don't want to be heard, and when they are, they hurt feelings. And then people have emotional reactions about you, your character, about Clay Travis. But that at another level, I think even from both of us, was Charlie Kirk. And that was done and is being done to an incredible level with Charlie Kirk. so that the people today that are posting on social media believe that they still have moral high ground because they say things like Charlie said empathy was a bad emotion that we as a society rely too much on empathy. Or Charlie believed in the Second Amendment and said that, you know, people will die, but the Second Amendment has a greater purpose.

Or Charlie told the truth about black on black or even black on white crime, and that made him a racist. What I'm getting at, Clay, is there's this entire ecosystem and conversation happening on those that hate based upon, and Charlie did take controversial positions, but they're only controversial because no one's willing to say the truth about the impacts, for example, of affirmative action. You know, there's a famous one of Charlie saying, you know, if I get on the plane and there's a black pilot, I wonder, is he qualified? He's not talking about the abilities of black pilots. he's talking about the cost of affirmative action that when you put people into positions not based on merit it's the same thing just as clarence thomas has said then people are going to rationally question whether or not you got there based upon the same qualifications but my

larger point is they're turning charlie into and they always have but they're turning him into something that he's not by distorting who he is and that's been done to both of us and done at a greater level with charlie kirk and so there's a world of people out there that think one thing and they think that gives them their moral high ground about Charlie. And I think it's one of the biggest challenges that we face in the country today, candidly will. And I think that was what Charlie was uniquely brilliant at doing. And it's what I try to do.

I know it's what you try to do. But Charlie did it by saying, hey, here's a microphone. You can walk up and tell me anything that you want. You can take issue with any of my opinions that you have. and what you saw, I'll give you an example, it just happened on social media. Stephen King said, Charlie Kirk believed that gay people should be stoned to death. And everybody on social media, by and large, that was a Charlie Kirk supporter, went back at him, and Stephen King, this is the popular author, eventually apologized.

There is a desire. on the left in particular, I think, Will, to characterize not the arguments but the people themselves as awful human beings rather than have to address the substance of the argument. And I don't think this happens as often on the right. It's hard to paint with a hugely broad brush. But most of the time on the right, we're actually aware of the arguments that people are making on the left. and we tend to point out the absurdity of the argument. And I thought Sean Hannity on Fox News did a really good job of this because it crystallized for me. When Ron DeSantis wiped the floor with Gavin Newsom in their debate, Gavin Newsom didn't know any of Ron DeSantis' arguments. He hadn't actually considered them at all because he lives in a left-wing echo chamber

where they pronounce him right in their media ecosystem all the time just based on the fact that he is a Democrat, not based on the quality of his idea. And so I've been frustrated for a long time. I don't even think I'm controversial. This is maybe my most controversial take. I'm not opposed to controversy. I don't even think I'm remotely controversial. But I think almost most people would agree with almost every argument that I make.

This is leaving aside sports, right? I'm just talking about my basic life philosophy. I don't think it's remotely controversial. But what they do is they avoid having to examine the argument by attacking and labeling the individual, and most people on the left aren't willing. Now, here's what I say is a positive about that. For the people that are curious, and this is who I think Charlie Kirk reached out to, and this is why I think young men moved in his direction so substantially,

there is that moment where you get red-pilled and you look at the way that something has been covered or someone has been covered and you start to pull the thread in your own world and go beyond the headlines and look into the substance of the headlines what they're based on and you say boy that's not really what was said at all and will you know when I started doing this before I even was particularly political at all I would always want to go read the transcripts of post-game press conferences, of coaches and players. And I would encourage people if you can track these down to do it sometimes, because you can just test this experiment yourself and tell me if I'm right or wrong.

The media almost always mischaracterized what athletes and coaches would say, took out of context, their commentary, made headlines that were not reflective of reality. And when I looked at that and I saw them doing it in sports, I started to pay more attention. into the larger political ecosystem and think, boy, if sports media can't get what a coach says right after a game or what a coach says in a media scrum, right, do I think they're covering political figures fairly? And when you go down that rabbit hole, so to speak, Will, what I have found is that's where people actually become diehard fans of you. It's not necessarily because they agree with you. It's because they see that unfairness and are willing to consider the

arguments that you are making. And I can't tell you a number of times I come up and I meet people and they say, boy, I hated you. And then they're like, and then I watched a clip and then I watched the show. And I thought, hey, this guy is not what people have said about him. And I actually start to agree. And it makes you more aggressive in the way you consume media, which is what I would encourage everybody to do. Very, very, very well said. We'll be right back on Will Cain Country. Jason Chaffetz from the Jason in the House podcast. Join me every Monday to dive deeper into the latest political headlines and chat with remarkable guests.

Listen and follow now at Fox Newspodcast.com or wherever you download podcasts. Listen to the all new Brett Bear podcast featuring Common Ground, in-depth talks with lawmakers from opposite sides of the aisle, along with all your Brett Bear favorites like his all-star panel and much more. Available now at Fox Newspodcasts.com or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back to Will Cain Country. We're still hanging out with the host of the Clay Travis and Buck Sexton show, the founder of Outkick.com, Clay Travis.

Let's go back for a moment to what you said. And I think you did it appropriately. You've said it a couple of times. And I think you're right to do so. No particular ideology has a monopoly on their instinct for political violence or their appetite for ad hominem attacks, to your point. That being said, while no one has a monopoly,

one particular movement inside of the aisle has certainly gained the market share. And we're not telling the truth if we don't point out that this is a really bad problem currently on the left. And I'm going to tell you why I say currently. But the left has moved from that ad hominem attack, attacking the person, to censorship. We went through the censorship age. the movement became i can't win the debate i don't want to address it on the substance and merits now i must yell shut up and i will then when in in the with the levers of power use those levers to begin to shut people up we moved beyond that age and it became something

else then it became punch a nazi in the mouth it became appeals for aggressive physicality and we heard it we heard it from the likes of tim waltz or or even joe biden we began to hear hear the the the the the the ramping up of the physical imploring of the people for a reaction then we move to assassination attempt and we saw that or at least first physical violence ran paul was attacked in his yard brett cavanaugh had a man with his gun in his yard then the attempted assassination twice of donald trump and now an assassination of charlie kirk we've seen the study the studies show that at least 50% of the left thinks it's okay to assassinate Donald Trump or Elon Musk. That came out, I believe it was within the past six months.

So there is a problem. And both sides does exist on the fringe, but the problem is this doesn't now exist on the fringe on the left. And I do believe, like you said, it's a mass psychosis. The easy popular term is TDS, Trump derangement syndrome. But there is a mass psychosis on the left that has led it down this violent path. And last thing, Clay, the only reason I say currently is because this is the scary part now. It won't always be that way. You can't expect to do that and not see a reaction.

And I'm afraid for what the right will do. I'm afraid for when the right says, oh, okay, this is where you are now. You won't listen to me. You've yelled shut up. You don't engage in the substance. You want to get violent? Well, violent is a two-way street. Violence is a two-way street.

And that's the path to civil war. I don't think, and again, I'm not saying that there aren't elements on the right like this. If Rachel Maddow or whomever you believe on the left is the equivalent of Charlie Kirk, right? Someone who is not an elected official, someone who is in the opinion business in general. I'll just say Rachel Maddow were assassinated on a college campus. I don't think that overwhelming numbers of people on the right would exult. Would there be some? Yes.

Is that wrong? Yes. but I don't think it would be characterized as a substantial minority. I think it would be a penprick of the right. And I think this is important on a vast level. You cannot, since Donald Trump came down from the escalator in 2015, they basically decided we're going to characterize him as Hitler, we're going to characterize him and his supporters as the modern day equivalent of Nazis.

That 22-year-old who just killed Charlie Kirk, according to reports, engraved on the bullets that he used to kill Charlie Kirk, shell casings, were anti-fascist and anti-Nazi slogans. He believes it. That's what I'm saying. He thinks that he is a hero here. I don't think that Chuck Schumer actually thinks that Donald Trump is Adolf Hitler. I don't believe that aOC does. I don't think Barack Obama does. I don't think Kamala Harris does.

I don't believe they believe the rhetoric that they are putting out into the world. But some of their supporters do. And you can't incite and then say, to me, this is really like the essence of it, Will. You can't incite people by saying this guy is the modern day version of Adolf Hitler. And then when people try to kill him, you can't say, Well, violence is never the answer. Because we debate all the time back in the day, hey, should you kill baby Hitler? You know, it's kind of a funny, ridiculous thing because a baby is an innocent person.

You're like, hey, but what Hitler did was so bad, would it be worthy of killing Hitler when he was a baby? They tried to kill Hitler, Valkyrie, all the whole story. If you truly believed Trump was Hitler, Will, you shouldn't say after he gets hit in the ear in Butler, Pennsylvania, oh, we condemn all acts of political violence. You should say, damn, I wish he hadn't missed, right? That's the actual truth if you believed he was Hitler. They don't believe it because they immediately try to say, oh, political violence is never the answer, but a lot of their supporters do. And so there are consequences to labeling someone as the modern day equivalent of the worst person in the 20th century. And that, I believe, we should have a much bigger conversation about.

And that is where I think the left has Charlie Kirk's blood on their hands. Incredible stuff, as always, Clay. Here's what I suspect. You'll be in Knoxville. I'll be in Austin. I know this because two weeks ago, I was in Columbus. And when I was there at Big Noon kickoff, man, it was awesome, Clay. You know, I have the capacity to still be a fan. And I'm sure there times when you can still be a fan and i and we're friends you and i are friends with matt liner and brady quinn and you know urban mire and and there are relationships and then and then walks for me in vince young and i'm returned to being a fan i'm back to being a kid even though i wasn't a kid when he basically brought childlike wonderful memories to my life my point is i'm in that

environment at big noon at columbus and you know portnoy is there and I got to tell you, man, kids came up to me, and they said, hey, do you know Charlie Kirk? I was like, yeah, let's FaceTime him. Kids in that environment loved Charlie Kirk. What a testament to his life and his work. And you'll experience it, I imagine, this weekend in Knoxville, and I will experience it this weekend again in Austin. And I just think that's going to say volumes about Charlie Kirk. I think it does, Will, and I've got 17, 14, and 10.

boys you've got boys who are 17 and 14. I talked about this yesterday on my show. I think there is a desperate yearning for meaning in the young male community that a lot of people who don't spend around, spend time around young men don't understand. I think Charlie understood it. And I think they trusted and admired and respected him for trying to address some of the challenging questions about life. And for also just saying, Will, which I think is important, and I think dads and moms and grandma and grandpas, we all need to say it more. There's nothing wrong with being a boy. Manhood is good. Aspiring to be a protector and a provider is something that you should want to do. Having a family and trying to raise good kids is what the foundation of, I think, the civilization really is based on.

And I think a lot of these kids feel like they're being blamed for everything that's ever been wrong in society. And I've got a new book coming out. In fact, this is the early review copy of it. It's called Balls. I tried to be aggressive to talk about it. But one of the stories in there, Will, is one of my kids' friends came in and he said, Mr. Clay, he's, I think he was 11 or something. He was like, we're doing history right now. And they're telling us, public school, they're telling us all these awful things that white men did.

and that white men are the problem with everything. And he's like, and they're telling us that we have all this privilege and all this power. And he said, Mr. Clay, my mom doesn't let me pick what I eat for dinner. And it's a funny story, but it's also a sad one because it demonstrates the difference between what is said about these kids and the power that they actually feel. And they recognize that schism, right? that difference between reality and the world that speaks to them. And I think Charlie tried to address that.

And I think all of us need to address it because there's a lot of struggling, in particular, white, black, Asian, Hispanic young boys that are looking for life, meaning they don't have it necessarily in religion. Dad may not be at home. This is why sports matter. I think about it a lot. You and me, where dads were home, hopefully we've raised good, strong boys. But there's a lot of boys out there that need the foundation of support.

Heck, the Boy Scouts isn't even just for boys anymore. Where do young men go to become adult men? I think our structures as a society are failing them in many ways. Here, here. They can also tune in to the Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show or go over to outkick.com, and they can find a world there as well. Always good to see you, man. Thank you for spending time with us today.

Good to see you. Keep up the good work. I actually still believe in Arch. So I think you guys are going to be there in the playoff. So we'll see. Florida in three weeks, I think you guys playish. That'll be the next test. But I'm excited.

As soon as I finish my radio show today, I'm hopping in the car, driving straight to Knoxville. I'm doing some big noon hits for the Georgia-Tennessee game. And we'll see if Tennessee can take the next step and beat Georgia for the first time in the high-ball air. All right. I'll be watching you tomorrow. Thanks, Clay Travis.

Appreciate you, my man. All right, I appreciate that conversation with Clay Travis. Coming up, former New York Yankee legend, Texas Ranger Legend, now running for Congress, Mark Tashara. This episode is brought to you by Square. You're not just running a restaurant. You're building something big. And Square's there for all of it.

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I started wondering. Is every fabulous item I see from Winners? Like that woman over there with the designer jeans. Are those from Winners? Ooh, are those beautiful gold earrings? Did she pay full price? Or that leather tote? Or that cashmere sweater?

Or those knee-high boots? That dress, that jacket, those shoes. Is anyone paying full price for anything? Stop wondering. Start winning. Winners find fabulous for less. Mark Tashara, Texas Ranger legend, perhaps a little more notably, New York Yankee legend. Friend here to Will Cain Country.

Now running for Congress joins us on the show. Mark, man, really great to see you. How you doing? I'm doing great, Will. thank you for having me. I'm really glad to have you. The last time we were together, I believe, in person at least, was in a Bristol, Connecticut, ESPN studio, talking about baseball. And here we are today talking again about you being competitive in a different sphere, a different world, politics.

And I think we should start right there, man. Why? Yeah, a lot of people think I'm crazy, Will. But, you know, really for me, this is something that I've been thinking about for a really long, time. I've been praying about this for a long time. We all know as athletes, we can't play this a game forever. And I thought about what could I do impactful in my life? We're all called to serve. And especially with what's going on in our country right now, I can't think of a better way to serve God and to serve my country than to go into Congress and fighting for the good guys. I totally believe you. And I believe you because this next question, Mark, would probably

defy what most people would choose for their path in life. It would be pretty easy. I haven't done it, Mark, but it would be pretty easy for me to just head on over to AI or Google and pull up Mark to share a career earnings. The long and short of it is, it would tell me that you're good. You don't have to do anything for the rest of your life. You're more than good. Your children and grandchildren will be good, at least when it comes to their own financial security. And yet you've chosen something, and you and I will get into this over the course of the next 20 minutes together that is not a pleasant, unfortunately, not a pleasant sector of our society. Of course, I'm referencing the horrific events of this past week where we lost our friend

Charlie Kirk. And we'll talk about that in just a moment. But for you, you're choosing something, man, that is hard. You're choosing something that can be very ugly, and you could quite honestly be fine, living a life of luxury yeah well you know you hit on something that that i've i've thought about for a long time and i read the bible every day my faith is the most important thing in my life and you know when i tell people you want to know who mark to share is it's faith family country like that that's it that's what i care about but faith is number one and i i cannot find

anywhere in the bible where it says um get a great job early in life make a whole bunch of money and then go on vacation and hang out with your buddies. I just can't find it. And what I can't find is go out and serve God. Go out and serve others. You know, let the first be last, right? And so for me, the rest of my life, I want purpose. And I don't think making more money or being a quasi-celebrity

and go in hunting and hanging out on the lake or going to sporting events for the rest of my life, while that would be fun, I want to live a life of purpose, Will. And I think you look at the people that serve in our country for the right reasons. Not everybody serves in office for the right reasons. But I truly believe that there are a great number of people that love our country, love God, and they want to serve both of those. And I hope to be one of them. Did I see an interview, Mark? I've seen you in a few places. And you know, I've been texting, so I'm very disappointed that you haven't been on the Will Kane show yet, but we're going to remedy that.

You're going to spend a lot of time with this up here in Dallas, and I'm only being a little lighthearted. But I've seen you somewhere giving some interview, and you did bring up your lack of military service. Now, Mark, I've always said, I have, and I know this, at this stage of my life, that I will have two regrets, at a minimum, two are now crystallized. They're cemented that you could write into my obituary. but I have two regrets. One is that I didn't have more children. I have two boys, and they are one of the top purposes in my life. And the other regret that I have is I didn't serve in the military.

And I do think I saw you somewhere say something similar, where, of course, you know, you were playing baseball starting, I mean, you're playing professionally starting in your early 20s. So, you know, your career took off and took you away from that window in your life. but I do believe I heard you somewhere say that you do have some regret about that missing from your service record and that you see this as sort of your opportunity to serve. You're exactly right, Will. I grew up with a father who I love more than, you know, more than anything. That guy is a, he's an incredible human being.

My father is a patriot. He went to the United States Naval Academy and flew planes during the Cold War. And I grew up in, you know, most of my childhood was in Indianapolis. area and I said, Dad, I'm going to the Naval Academy. And he looked at me, I think I was probably a freshman or sophomore in college. He said, son, God has given you a gift to play baseball. You need to respect that. And so I played baseball when I was growing up. I, you know, like you said, Will, in my 20s, I was playing baseball. I didn't serve my country. But, you know, my father, my uncle, I have my grandfather, my wife's grandfather, they all served in the military. My wife's father

was in the Army National Guard. So my family understands how important it is to serve your country. And we wouldn't be sitting here today, Will, if not for the freedoms that were secured for us by previous generations fighting and dying for us. And so while, you know, at 45 years old, the time has passed for me to be, you know, in the trenches and in the military, I do believe I can serve my country in this way in Congress. And I'm looking forward to that opportunity. So over the course of the next couple of months, as you make your run for Congress, and it is currently for the seat that is occupied by Chip Roy, also a friend to this program, who is running for Texas Attorney General.

I hope to have conversations with you about where you are on various issues, what you believe. I don't think today is necessarily the day we're going to dive deeply into a lot of issues, but I do hope we can do that together in the future. But I think we have to sort of address, first of all, because it's dominated everyone's everyone's soul quite honestly the assassination of our friend charlie kirk um and it's it's commanded the attention of the nation i don't think it's completely removed from what now you are seeking because it just shows at a minimum the level of divisiveness and maybe this is where we bring it in mark you know i woke up this morning and you know my job it's a weird job in some ways it's like

you know i talk two hours every day i told the audience this week It becomes therapy for me in some way. In a way, I'm more emotional sometimes on air than I am in person. But I'm shocked that I wake up this morning and I see the celebration of the death of Charlie Kirk. And I want to, I just posted this, Mark. I just posted that I wanted to dismiss it as just crazies and fringe lunatics. But now I'm seeing people I know. I'm seeing people that educate my children.

And, you know, this is a world that you're choosing to walk into. And I'm not asking you to repeat your answer. to why, but I'm asking you now to make sense, make sense of what we've seen unfold this week. Well, everything you said is true. My heart goes out to Charlie's young family. Just this awful what happened. But, you know, one thing, Will, is that I'm already in a broken, fallen world. We live in a broken, sinful world. We're all imperfect sinners. And I think you're seeing evil right now. there is good and evil and and and charlie was somebody who who shared his faith that's what i love you know more than his his patriotism i love that charlie shared the gospel every single day and you read

the bible you understand there's good and evil and we are seeing evil right now will and that is that is all it is it is pure evil when you see you know whether it's the shooter whether it's people celebrating whether it's um you know those saying that um you know if you don't believe in in in and what I believe in, you should be killed. That is pure evil. Yesterday was 9-11. Terrorists are evil. And so, you know, yes, I'm jumping into maybe a political situation that is toxic,

but we live in a toxic world. And we can either choose to give in to that toxicity, give in to that evil, or, you know, we can look at redemption through Jesus Christ. And that's what I do. And I know you're a man of faith as well, Will. And that's why I listen to you. That's why I listened to Charlie, because this wasn't, this is bigger than politics. This is about, you know, people understanding that they need God in their lives.

And if you don't have God in your lives, that's where this evil comes from. You know, I think we, I think I know this from some of our previous conversations. You have kids, right? And I don't know, I think it roughly might even be in the same age range as my kids. That's what I thought. Teenagers, how old and boy or girl? I have a freshman son at Texas A&M. I have a senior daughter in high school

and a freshman son at high school. And the first first, I was actually in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday. And I got a text message from my oldest son. He was the first one that told me because my son is a conservative because partly because of Charlie Kirk. Because when you hear it in the home, you're like, oh, mom and dad, they're old school, they're old fashion. When you hear it from a relative peer like Charlie and my son's

19 years old, it really, it really hits you and it really inspires you. And my son and all of his friends were inspired by Charlie Kirk, not again, not just because of his politics, but because they told, Charlie told them, don't be afraid to share your faith. Don't be afraid to stand up to evil. And man, Charlie, he was a, he made a big impact on my son's life. That's exactly why I asked you. This is what I was curious about. We have two, by the way, the exact same in that I have a freshman in high school and a senior in high school. Don't yet have the college thing. I'm visiting Austin and UT. I don't know that Aggies will be on the list of options. But yeah, man, the impact that Charlie had on that generation is going to be lasting. It is lasting. It's

incredible. Okay. Let's talk about this. I don't think I knew in the amount of time that we kept up with each other. I don't think that I knew. So I know, I knew that. I knew that. I knew. I knew that you grew up in the Annapolis region, like you said, outside of the Braves, what did you play college ball? Were you Georgia Tech? Where did you go? I have Georgia on my mind. Yeah. See, look at me. I'm really good at this. And then, of course, there's the Rangers, the Braves, and the Yankees. On your career resume, there's a World Series that you're an absolute stud. You're a legend in baseball. Why did you choose? choose with that varied personal background of places you've lived and geographies that you've

invested in, why did you choose at the end of your career to make your home in Texas? Well, this is my third time through Texas. I actually spent a few years as a kid in college station. So that's where the Aggie blood comes from a little bit. And so, you know, eight years in Dallas. And then I moved to Texas because my wife and I fell off. We were, we were firstly, first married, you got married young. I was 22 years old. As soon as we moved to Texas, especially a kid with the nickname Tex, I fell in love with this place. You know, the people, the culture, the opportunity, you know, in a place like Austin, I think, so the Texas Hill Country, which is the Texas 21 district, the district that I'm running for, is the most beautiful place in Texas. And, you know, you have

these incredible sunsets and you have lakes and rivers and hills. And my wife and I first came here in our early 20s on a quick little weekend getaway when we're living in Dallas. And we looked at each other and said, when I retire, we're moving here. And it's that simple. And then, you know, as you get older, you start realizing, where do you want to send your kids to school? Do you want to send your kids to school in an area where you can talk about your faith, where you can freely express your political views without getting silenced or canceled? Do you want to live in a place where you're paying no state income tax and people? are given the opportunity to grow businesses and not have the government, you know, overburden

them, that's what Texas is to me. I absolutely love this state. You know, I joke to people, I wasn't bored in Texas, but I got here as fast as I could. And that's why I'm so excited about this opportunity to represent the good people of the Texas Hill country. Okay. You have done something at the highest possible levels that no one else can even identify with. That is step into the batters box, probably the biggest pressure cooker of that or attention is a Yankee Stadium at the highest moments, you know, the World Series. You've done things that people can't even identify with when it comes to pressure, when it comes to stress, when it comes to performance.

Now you're doing something totally different, okay? And by the way, you're really good at this. I can tell you already. And I'll talk to you privately as well. You seem very comfortable. And you've probably done because of your previous career, a lot of media. So a camera and a microphone and a stadium or an audience, it doesn't do that much to you. But it still is different.

It's different to, well, you know what's different, Mark? And I think you know this. Baseball players, if I ranked pro athletes trained in saying the least, baseball players would probably come in second. I'm going to give hockey players, I'm going to give hockey players number one and absolutely saying nothing in an interview, but baseball players are a close second. Like you are, you get trained and mastered in the arts of the boring interview. No doubt, no doubt. By design, because you work for someone else and your job is not to say something controversial, and I respect that, but you're in a different place now.

And now you have to say what you think. You have to. and you have to say it boldly. And I think we both are inspired, as I hope everybody is this week, to speak boldly. But I am curious, like, what's more pressure, man? Like, and you may say this because you spent your life conquering the pressure of baseball. But I'm just kind of curious, what's the comparison? This is what I'll say, and it might sound cheesy.

Well, I do feel like a rookie again. And what I mean is, when I was a rookie in the major leagues, I didn't know if I belonged. I knew I was talented. I had confidence. I was hungry, but I was very humble. I hope that my faith creates humility in me in everything that I do, because without God, I am nothing. Let's just be very clear.

Without God, I am nothing. And so I'm going to go into this being extremely humble. I'm telling everybody, I'm going to work my tail off, just like I did when I was a rookie. I'm going to learn, learn the ropes, just like I did when I was a rookie. And what I would tell you from a pressure standpoint, if I failed in front of 45,000 people at Yankee Stadium, they boo me. And it hurts. I've been booed in Yankee Stadium a lot, unfortunately.

And it really hurts. It hurts deep to my core. If I fail at this, if I upset my constituents, if I make bad decisions for America, people's lives are in danger. And I think the stakes are so much higher, Will. And that's why I am taking this so seriously. We should all understand how important these jobs are. And I know Congress does not have a very high approval rating. I think the last one that I saw is 23%.

And we can't just laugh about it when there are cartels that are poisoning our children. We can't dismiss, oh, Congress can't do their job. And there are people out there losing their jobs, losing their homes, right? So this is extremely important. And I'm going to take it to every level that I can. I'm going to do the best I can do at this job, just like I did at my last job. But like I said, I think the stakes are a little bit higher here. Yeah, that's a great answer, man.

Your job is going to have a lot of different angles to it. There's the public speaking angle. There's the constituent services angle. There's the understanding the people that you need to serve and have to. a personal relationship with them. And then there's the whole mess of actually the dynamics in Washington, D.C. Unfortunately, baseball is a lot more simple, and the success metrics, a lot more quantifiable in baseball. But I think I'm excited for you, man. I'm excited for the potential for what you can do. I do think you're coming into it for the right reasons. I think that's self-evident

because you could be on a yacht and you could be on those hunting trips. And I know your life it's not going to be easy because you're going to be spending four nights a week in an apartment in Washington, D.C., you know, flying back home to see your family and your constituents. And that's not easy, which reveals, I think, the right motivations for you, Mark. So I hope we can stay in touch, man, and I wish you the best of luck. I look forward to hearing more about you and what you hope to pursue in the United States Congress. Thank you, Will. It really means a lot.

You're a patriot. Keep doing what you're doing, man. Thank you. All right. Let's stay in touch, Mark. Best of luck. Thank you. All right, that's going to do it for us today here on Will Cain Country. We'll keep up with the career in the pursuit of Congress by Mark to share. We appreciate Clay Travis for spending time with us. As we do, we appreciate you as well. The Willisha. We hope you will. Make sure you subscribe at Apple or on Spotify. Hit follow. But importantly, head over to YouTube, Will Cain Country. Bookmark, like, subscribe, because we will be streaming Monday live on Will Cain Country. Listen to ad-free with a Fox News podcast plus subscription on Apple Podcasts and Amazon Prime members. You can listen to this show, ad-free on the Amazon Music app.

Thank you.